What my DLSU Org Taught Me About Work and Life

As a student, I’ve observed often times that students just focus on their academic standing and relate it towards the job that they will be pursuing after they graduate. However, it is also just as important to be involved in extracurricular activities to learn life lessons, lessons that can’t be taught within the four walls of a classroom. There are just some things you have to learn through experience and through stepping out of your comfort zone.

When it comes to overcoming trials, being a well-rounded person will give you a huge edge any day. For real life examples, we’ve asked four De La Salle University alumni about how their roles in their respective DLSU org played out in their lives outside university.

Marj Maroket DLSU Animo Squad

UAAP CDC 3rd Place, Back-to-back National Champion 2012-2013

I believe the biggest learning I picked up while being in the squad is to never stop learning. If I didn’t have the will to learn and improve, I wouldn’t become the cheerleader I am today! Every competition, I push myself to develop skills that are harder than what I did during my previous competition.

I also learned to believe in yourself and to be brave. What we do in pep is not easy and it takes a lot of guts. But if you believe in yourself, you’ll be able to do things that you didn’t know that you could do. I think it is important to believe in myself when I face the “real world” because I’ll be experiencing greater trials and tougher competitors. When times get rough, the last thing we want to do is to doubt ourselves!

Nicole Sia

Former President of the Junior Entrepreneur Marketing Association (JEMA)

My 3 years there. I was able to lead, create, and execute events not only for the organization but also for our partners and sponsors. I was able to learn how to work with people who are different from me. I was able to partner with organizations both inside and outside the university which taught me that working with other people toward one goal will always be better than working alone.

All of these experiences summed up has helped me in the real world as these are things you would never learn confined in the four walls of a classroom.

Because of JEMA, I’ve learned to be creative in my workplace, where you would always need to come up with new things to keep your customers interested in whatever you are providing them. There I also learned compassion – to always think of how what I am doing is impacting the people and the world around

Tiffanie Cheung

Former EVP for Academics of the Business Management Society (BMS)

I was told before that whatever I do for BMS will come back to me two-fold. Now that I’ve graduated from the organization, I tell the new members the same thing. I believe that through my 3 years of experience in BMS, I’ve grown holistically, not only skill-wise but also personality-wise.

First, I would say that I learned to become more disciplined in such a way that I knew how important it is to be committed with my work, how mindful I should be when dealing with different people with different personalities, how to be punctual with my deadlines and with meetings, and how I should be a role model to others. Same thing goes now in ‘real life’.

Second, the organization also gave me avenues to go beyond borders. I was consistently challenged to learn new things, to be creative and innovative, and especially to go outside of my personal sanctuary. This may sound negative to some but this type of environment actually pushes you to become confident and assertive with your ideas and decisions. When you start to work, you are always challenged to think of something new that you can contribute, may it be with simple processes or big-scale projects. You have to stick to your guts! It is expected for you to be assertive and not be indecisive and shy around people.

Last but not the least, I learned that passion is very important with just about anything. With whatever you do, you have to immerse yourself with the purpose of it. You always have to think about how your actions would impact others, good or bad. If you do not believe in what you do, how can you expect the same from others. Mind you, there is a really big difference with the output of someone who puts passion into his work and the output of someone who doesn’t.

In general, being in organizations allows us to get a glimpse of how to position ourselves in a hierarchical structure. This allows us to get to experience and understand wearing the hat of a subordinate and the hat of a boss.

Aldrin Dayauon

TeamComm President SY 14-15

Being TeamComm President for AY 2014-2015 was definitely the hardest job that I’ve ever faced in my life as a student.

The job was very demanding and I had to learn how to balance my academic life, social life, life, family, hobbies, interests, and of course my love life. More than that, it made me question my position in society and ask my purpose towards the people I serve.

What it gave me was maturity. In one of the social events of TeamComm, I got carried away and told one of my officers to “use their brain.” In that instance, I didn’t realize that what I said was hurtful because I was just kidding around. But when she stepped out and some of the officers told me that she began crying, I knew then that I was wrong. After events like those, I had to make amends, polish some flaws, and apologize to the people I’ve hurt. It’s tough, and I still bear the brunt of the things that I’ve done wrong.

What I took from all those experiences in TeamComm is simply that we will always make mistakes. Whoever we are, whatever we do, even if we are idolized by people, we will all slip one way or the other. My take on that is simply, accept that we’re not perfect, we are not the best on everything. We are just people who continue our lives, gradually improving one step at the time.

One thing these distinguished individuals have in common is that their experiences throughout their org lives helped them in theirholistic development as well as the hands-on knowledge needed to excel.

Other than providing students with different opportunities for growth, organizations will teach you to work effectively and hand in hand with a diverse group of people not limited to those in your degree program.